Garmin MK2i

[scubaozy]

Garmin watches aren't capable of extrapolating heart rate. That's not how they work. The wrist optical sensor is incapable of detecting heart rate when worn over a wetsuit or drysuit sleeve. If you see it displaying a wrist-based heart rate like that then it's essentially a random number with no relation to your actual heart rate. It's supposed to detect when it's not getting an accurate reading and automatically turn off the sensor but in my experience that doesn't work reliably and sometimes it gives phantom readings. Hold the device up to a piece of neoprene in a dark room and you'll see that no light from the green LEDs passes through. So I always manually disable the wrist sensor when I put on my exposure protection suit in order to prevent spurious readings.

In warm water with a shorty wetsuit you can wear the watch directly on your skin and it should give a reasonably accurate HR as long as the strap is snug. You can also pair it with an external heart rate chest strap like a Garmin HRM-Pro. That won't show real time heart rate during the dive because the radio signals don't penetrate water, but the watch will download the stored heart rate when you end the dive and return to the surface. Those chest straps have limited depth rating so I wouldn't take it on a deep dive under a wetsuit, but I've taken mine to about 200 ft under a drysuit and it still works.

As for the oxygen sensor, it's only designed to detect hypoxia due to sleep apnea or mountain climbing. Wouldn't be useful underwater where we have near 100% hemoglobin saturation plus additional free oxygen dissolved in the blood.

You could be right, I remember getting some semi reasonable readings over thick suit where I would expect nothing. I assumed some sort of extrapolation. It is not hard to do, you do have several sensors to detect the movements and past HR of the user.
As for pulse ox, if it is detecting hypoxia, it can surely be useful. There is apnea support in the watch, why support sleep apnea but not the real apnea ?!

 

[Nick_Radov]

You could be right, I remember getting some semi reasonable readings over thick suit where I would expect nothing. I assumed some sort of extrapolation. It is not hard to do, you do have several sensors to detect the movements and past HR of the user.
As for pulse ox, if it is detecting hypoxia, it can surely be useful. There is apnea support in the watch, why support sleep apnea but not the real apnea ?!

In order to get a Pulse Ox measurement from a Descent Mk2 you have to hold your arm perfectly still for 10+ seconds. That's not happening during an apnea dive.

 

[DeltaWardog]

Garmin doesn't sell your personal data.

Evidence? Do you work for them?

I don't care to get into a big argument about the semantics of 'selling' or whether or not you can truly know what you claimed, but they are in partnership with at least 5 companies listed in their policy that they say they share usage and analytics data with. They also say they'll be happy to give your data away in any M&A activity they undergo in the future.

Personally I feel trusting a corporation to safeguard any data you give them is foolish. They will only do it if there is a significant penalty for failure, but we've seen time and time again that's not the case in the United States.

I also understand most people don't give a **** and will happily give their life story to Google and Facebook. I do give a ****, and so I share as little as possible. Been using the Mk2s for well over a year and haven't needed to upload any data to Garmin yet to get what I need out of it.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

Evidence? Do you work for them?

I don't care to get into a big argument about the semantics of 'selling' or whether or not you can truly know what you claimed, but they are in partnership with at least 5 companies listed in their policy that they say they share usage and analytics data with. They also say they'll be happy to give your data away in any M&A activity they undergo in the future.

Personally I feel trusting a corporation to safeguard any data you give them is foolish. They will only do it if there is a significant penalty for failure, but we've seen time and time again that's not the case in the United States.

I also understand most people don't give a **** and will happily give their life story to Google and Facebook. I do give a ****, and so I share as little as possible. Been using the Mk2s for well over a year and haven't needed to upload any data to Garmin yet to get what I need out of it.

Have at it: Garmin | Privacy Policy

 

[SaltwaterNomad]

I've seen some videos complaining about a "chirping" noise from transmitter, does anyone have any information on how noticeable the noise from the sonar transmitter is? Is it a deal breaker, or bother other divers? Does a hood make a difference?

 

[L13]

I've seen some videos complaining about a "chirping" noise from transmitter, does anyone have any information on how noticeable the noise from the sonar transmitter is? Is it a deal breaker, or bother other divers? Does a hood make a difference?

It has never bothered me, but I have heard that some people are.

 

[Onetouchcomfort2021@gmail]

Hello. I am considering getting rid of my Aqualung i300c and i750 DC for a Garmin MK2i. I might keep the 300 for backup and sell the 750. Any feedback from the Garmin? I usually don't like smartwatches becauses of the short battery life and the fact that the OS becomes obsolete very fast. But I am talking about diving here. I love the GPS functionality, the messaging capability and the inReach integration. However, I can't find how much the satellite service costs.

Honestly I love the garmin mk2i ! I use it everyday for my watch as well as a dive watch. The battery life is about 6-8 days I don't pay for any satellite services so not sure what your talking about on that part . But as long as your okay with the mk2i size then I recommend it 100% im lost without mine !!

 

[Onetouchcomfort2021@gmail]

It has never bothered me, but I have heard that some people are.

I hear the noise every now and then but honestly it's kinda comforting because you know it's working lol I like to see a light flash or something to make a noise every now and then so I know it's on or working

 

[Johnboy70_99]

I've seen some videos complaining about a "chirping" noise from transmitter, does anyone have any information on how noticeable the noise from the sonar transmitter is? Is it a deal breaker, or bother other divers? Does a hood make a difference?

It was annoying to me at first, but I got used to it. I really like the watch. I use it for both diving and above ground weight training and cardio. I had a vivoavtive 3 before, so when it came time to get a dive watch I figured it would be good to get one to cover everything. My only minor complaints are I wish it was a little smaller physically for everyday use, and of course it’s not cheap.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

I've seen some videos complaining about a "chirping" noise from transmitter, does anyone have any information on how noticeable the noise from the sonar transmitter is? Is it a deal breaker, or bother other divers? Does a hood make a difference?

I've never heard it on OC. My Mk2i has been CCR backup a couple times. Maybe I'll test it to see if I can hear it on closed circuit.